Prostitution can be defined as offering sexual intercourse for pay. Prostitution has existed for an inordinate amount of time .It has been described euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession”. It’s been practiced by the worlds ancient civilizations like ancient Greece and Rome. Prostitution in ancient Rome was legal, public, and widespread. Even Roman men of the highest social status were free to engage prostitutes of either sex without incurring moral disapproval, as long as they demonstrated self-control and moderation in the frequency and enjoyment of sex. Latin literature refers often to prostitutes [not clear]. Real-world practices are documented by provisions of Roman law that regulate prostitution, and by inscriptions, especially graffiti from Pompeii. Some large brothels in the 4th century, when Rome was becoming officially Christianized, seem to have been counted as tourist attractions and were possibly even state-owned. Prostitutes played a role in several Roman religious observances, mainly in the month of April, over which the love and fertility goddess Venus presided. At the same time, prostitutes were considered shameful: most were either slaves or former slaves, or if free by birth relegated to the infamy, people utterly lacking in social standing and deprived of most protections accorded to citizens under Roman law. Prostitution thus reflects the ambivalent attitudes of Romans toward pleasure and sexuality.
Causes of Prostitution:
Poverty: poverty is the main economic factor responsible for prostitution. A woman who is unable to get any gainful employment and who has no form of support must either starve to death or earn her livelihood through prostitution. The illiterate and the semiliterate women cannot easily get employment (at least that’s how it seems in our world). More often than not, they have to sexually gratify their prospective employers. Many parents feel so utterly helpless that they prostitute their own children. The maid servants are objects of lust for their employers. The concept of poverty however, is relative. A woman may prostitute herself in order to live well, and give first-class education to her children.
Bad Neighborhood: The children living near brothels, or join the company of immoral persons become same because s/he would be used to sex, and come to see it as normal. The brothel keepers usually haunt these areas for their prey. The children who get exposed to business of sex want to have these exhilarating experiences at the first available opportunity. The young boys are lured to serve as sex slaves of wealthy sex-craze women. A recent survey of an American slum revealed that a woman of more than fifty would lure couple of boys to other apartment and offer them food and drink. Thus in a subtle manner she would develop intimacy and engage inward sex circus with them. She would have them play with her and was able to satisfy five boys at a time.
Immoral Traffic in Children and Women: Many tender girls are kidnapped from their homes by unscrupulous gangsters. They properly train them in the art of prostitution and when these girls mature they are sold.
Effects of Prostitution:
No doubt, prostitution causes personal, family and social disorganization. The prostitutes suffer from deterioration. The prostitute and the person who approaches her lead a sort of ‘double life’. They suffer from moral collapse and lose their status and position which other respectable men and women enjoy in society. Respectable people hate them, avoid their company and want to isolate them in society. As a result, the pimp and the prostitute become ‘hated and isolated islands’. They lead a life with their own definition of promiscuous sex conduct and a life with their own definitions of promiscuous sex conduct and immoral principle. This will be quite different from the society’s conception of morality.
Abolitionist Movement
There is growing abolitionist movement around the world that seeks to provide assistance to victims and hold perpetrators accountable. In Sweden, beginning in 1999, the purchasing of sexual services became a crime. The new law was passed as part of a new violence against women act that broadened the activities that qualified as criminal acts of violence. With this new approach, prostitution is considered to be one of the most serious expressions of the oppression of and discrimination against women.” The focus of the law is on “the demand” or the behavior of the purchasers of sex acts not the women. The U.S. government has adopted an abolitionist approach at the federal level. In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush issued a Presidential Directive. It was the first U.S. opinion on the link between prostitution and trafficking: “Prostitution and related activities, which are inherently harmful and dehumanizing, contribute to the phenomenon of trafficking in persons…” This policy statement is important because it connects trafficking to prostitution and states that prostitution is harmful. This policy goes against attempts to delink prostitution and trafficking and redefine prostitution as a form of work for women. In a United Nations speech in October 2003, President Bush called attention to the demand side of prostitution and trafficking. He said, “Those who patronize [the sex industry] debase themselves and deepen the misery of others. And governments that tolerate the trade are tolerating a form of slavery.” This statement has led the departments of government, including the U.S. State Department to focus more attention and funding on the demand side of prostitution.
Here in Ghana, what’s our reaction to the rate of young girls introduced into prostitution? We have suddenly assumed the attitude of the proverbial ostrich: hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil.

Author: Emmanuel Osei-Asemani
Peculiar International School (PIS)
Kasoa - CP